tendency. In January, 1626, the Bishop received a scarlet hat, and was succeeded as governor three years subsequently by Monsignor Lorenzo Campeggi, Bishop of Cesena, afterwards of Sinigaglia, who held that office until the death of Francesco Maria. But, though happy to escape from the personal superintendence of the government, "The old man, broken with the storms of state," did not consider himself exempted from all concern in the welfare of his subjects. We accordingly find, in a collection of his letters made by his secretary Babuccit, a very long remonstrance addressed to Cardinal Gessi regarding certain malversations in the management of public affairs. His complaints were directed against abuses of patronage, by conferring places of trust upon young and inexperienced persons, especially in the army, where many officers were rather children than soldiers; against a laxity of manners and conversation among the women, extending even to the nunneries; against the indiscriminate bearing of arms, which had already led to numerous homicides, and to the extirpation of game in the preserves. To Campeggi, the next governor, he complains, in 1628, of an increasing expenditure with impaired revenues. Brit. Mus. Lib. Add. MSS. Ital. No. 8511. art. 3. † Dr. Antonio Babucci transcribed for the press a number of letters written by the Duke after the Devolution, and dedicated them to the Grand Duchess Vittoria. The MS. is preserved in the Magliabechiana Library, class xxv. No. 77., and fully bears out the commendation we have given to his epistolary style at p. 213. CHAPTER XLVIII. THE DUKE'S MONKISH SECLUSION. HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER. "And they who reach SOUTHEY. AFTER his release from the cares of state, and from all anxiety as to the fate of his subjects and of his grand-daughter, Francesco Maria was left to employ his unimpaired powers of mind on more congenial topics. His few remaining years were passed in the society of those monks of the order of Minims, whom he had brought to the new convent, and who had been selected for their literary acquirements. He made them the companions and aids of his studies, and discussed with them such subjects as his reading suggested. Though ever respectful of the doctrines and observances of religion, fanaticism had no part in his character; and it is clear from his last will, and other evidence, that, in circumstances peculiarly favourable to an undue exercise of priestly influence, he kept himself free from its thraldom. Yet was he exemplary in pious preparation for the change which his sinking frame, as well as his philosophy, taught him to regard as at hand. To blighted hopes, parental anguish, and a desolate old age, were added great bodily sufferings. Gout, to which he had been subject from his thirty-fourth year, had by degrees so twisted his limbs that he was fed like a child, and a fresh paralytic seizure at length completed his decrepitude. Still, amid "The waste and injury of time and tide," his mind continued unclouded. To the end his letters maintained their clear and graceful style; and the frequent correspondence he kept up with his grand-daughter, a child in years rather than in ideas, formed the latest link that connected his thoughts and hopes with mundane objects. Of this correspondence, so creditable to the hearts of the writers, a few specimens will be found at p. 220. The registers of the Roman convent of Minims of S. Lorenzo enable us to trace the closing scenes of the old man's feeble existence. During the autumn of 1630 a change took place, and he was chiefly confined to bed during the subsequent winter. The rapid decay of his digestive organs was accelerated by rigid fastings during Lent, in which he persisted despite of his confessor's remonstrances. From the debilitating effects of this discipline, exhausted nature could not rally; but life ebbed so slowly, that four days elapsed after extreme unction had been administered, ere his flickering pulse was still. At length, on the 28th of April, 1631, he passed away, bewailed by his subjects, regretted by all Italy. To the citizens of Castel Durante his death was an especial bereavement. "They wept for a beloved father, the chastener of the bad, the rewarder of the good, the stay and advocate of the poor, the protector of the orphan, the support of the weak and oppressed, the consoler of the afflicted, the benefactor of all." Thus deprived of the glorious and desired shade and shelter of their goodly OAK, which, transplanted from the Ligurian shores, had branched out so boldly in their mountain soil, his people saw their independence extinguished, and their position in provincial insignificance riveted for ever. *Cimarelli, Istoria dello Stato d' Urbino. He lay in state during two days, arrayed in the ducal mantle of silver tissue lined with purple taffetas: on his head a coronet of gold surmounted the velvet cap of maintenance; the collar of the Fleece was on his neck, the ring on his finger, the sceptre in his hand. In these trappings of sovereignty, a last tribute to the station which he had quitted for ever, and which none remained to fill, he was by his own desire interred. Seven years before, he had prepared for himself an unornamented tomb under the holy-water vase in the church of the Crucifixion, at Castel Durante. There he chose his final restingplace, amid sites endeared as the scene of his youthful sports, the relaxation of his busy manhood, the retreat of his chastened age. Thither he was escorted by a procession of five hundred gentlemen, besides a numerous attendance of priest and monks. Each of the latter received a scudo and a pound of wax; and by one of them, Padre Ludovico Munaxho, the funeral oration was pronounced. At his own desire, this prayer, from the liturgy of his church, was inscribed under the font, in lieu of epitaph: “O Lord, incline thine ear to our prayers, wherein we supplicate thy mercy, and that thou wouldst establish in peace, and in the realms of the elect, the soul of thy servant Francesco Maria II., Duke of Urbino, which thou hast summoned from this life, and that thou wouldst ordain it to be received into the company of thy saints, through Christ our Saviour. Amen. He died in the year of God MDCXXXI., and of his age LXXXIII." The character of Francesco Maria presented many strange contradictions. The manifold inconsistencies of his precepts and practice have already been pointed out; and the opinions of his cotemporaries varied, not only from the estimate which a perusal of such memorials as I have discovered of his reign would lead one to form, but also from each other. It may be well to give the judgments of those who had best opportunities of forming just conclusions, leaving the reader to reconcile their dis crepancies. Donato, his chief counsellor in the Devolution of his state, whose experience was chiefly of his latter years, writes of him as follows: "For sixty years did he enjoy his dukedom, ever loved but ever feared by his subjects, and highly esteemed by foreigners. Having had always about him the most famous literary characters of his time, having himself mastered many sciences, and read a multitude of books, it would be difficult in few words to do justice to his finished knowledge, to his acute genius, to his profound memory, to his elegant and unaffected style in speaking and in writing, to his intimate acquaintance with natural history and geography, as well as with the political relations of states. Nor was he less skilled in the more important acquirements of theology and sacred subjects, upon which he was accustomed to dispute with those whose business it was to teach these doctrines. He was a prince of great piety, of exemplary manners, of austere address. He lived as a sovereign, but spoke like a simple gentleman. His modesty veiled the pride of his station; his strict justice obtained for him the respect due to a king; his conduct was on all occasions exemplary. Fond of despatch, he was impatient of dilatory measures and superfluous discussions. He would have been a paragon for princes, and worthy of undying fame, had not the irritability which unaccountably swayed his temper, and his violent fits of passion in matters regarding himself, hurried him unrestrained by his many virtues into numerous excesses and errors. Among such may be accounted his throwing up the reins to his son, his abandoning himself to the guidance of favourites, his credulous adherence to first impressions, his abhorrence of those who had once alienated his regard. Timid and suspicious from his solitary habits, he was averse to generosity, cautious in his expenditure, but, punctual to his promises, was fully to be relied upon for an exact performance of his word. In person he was well-proportioned, neither stout nor thin. He was a good knight, skilled in arms and equestrian exercises; he was devoted to the chase and all |